White House Pushes Congress To Override State AI Laws

By Courtney Bublé

The White House directed Congress to preempt "burdensome" state laws on artificial intelligence in a legislative framework released Friday.

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Chance The Rapper Beats Ex-Manager's Pay Claim

By Lauraann Wood

Illinois jurors sided with Chance the Rapper on Friday over his ex-manager's claim that the rapper improperly abandoned a handshake deal to pay the manager certain commissions during and for three years after their relationship, awarding the rapper $35 and recommending the return of a website he had long used to promote and market his music. 

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Chicago Transit Authority Says Feds Can't Hold $2B 'Hostage'

By Hailey Konnath

The Chicago Transit Authority on Friday asked an Illinois federal court to force the federal government to release more than $2 billion in funding for extending and updating city train lines, claiming the government is trying to "hold hostage" the grants supporting "crucial infrastructure projects" for the city.

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Schools Back Delay Of Hasty Trump Admissions Data Demand

By Julie Manganis

A Trump administration demand for years of college admissions data on race and sex, with just a few months' notice, has "created a perfect storm" for schools scrambling to comply, a coalition of academic organizations has told a Massachusetts federal judge in support of a bid to delay implementation of the new survey.

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States Want To Halt Nexstar-Tegna Integration For Challenge

By Matthew Perlman

State enforcers asked a California federal court Friday to stop Nexstar Media Group Inc. from integrating with rival broadcast company Tegna Inc., after the companies closed their $6.2 billion merger despite a pair of lawsuits challenging the deal.

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Analysis

Nexstar Won Over DC, But Faces Big Task In Local TV Markets

By Christopher Cole

Broadcast behemoth Nexstar had plenty to celebrate in Washington, D.C., on Thursday with twin regulatory approvals pivotal to its plan to take over rival Tegna, but even if the deal survives legal challenges, it will face scrutiny in local TV markets.

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5th Circ. Wipes Out FTC's TurboTax 'Deceptive' Ad Ruling

By Lauren Berg

The Fifth Circuit on Friday vacated the Federal Trade Commission's cease-and-desist order imposed on Intuit Inc. for its TurboTax advertising that regulators say duped customers into thinking they could file their tax returns for free, saying the agency's in-house decision is unconstitutional, and the dispute must go to federal court.

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Roundup

Real Estate Recap: Rate Hold, Data Center Regs, Housing EOs

By Real Estate Authority Staff

Catch up on this past week's key developments by state from Law360 Real Estate Authority — including reactions to the latest interest rates news from the Fed, states tamping down on data center development and executive orders on the affordable housing front.

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Albertsons Subpoenas Ex-Kroger CEO In Merger Fight

By Jarek Rutz

Albertsons Cos. Inc. has subpoenaed former Kroger Co. CEO Rodney McMullen in Delaware Chancery Court to sit for a two-day deposition next month, intensifying discovery in its Delaware lawsuit over the collapse of the companies' proposed $24.6 billion merger.

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Auto System Maker Can't Escape Trucking Cos.' Fraud Claims

By Mike Curley

An Illinois federal judge will not let a vehicle systems company escape a proposed class action from motor carriers over allegedly faulty frontal crash avoidance and mitigation systems, saying its contacts with its alleged co-conspirators are enough to give the court jurisdiction.

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Ill. Court Revives Defamation Claim In Union Campaign Suit

By Katherine Smith

An Illinois appeals court has partially revived a lawsuit alleging that a candidate for a secretary treasurer position at a Chicago Fire Fighters Union local made defamatory Facebook comments about his campaign opponent, ruling that several of the comments support the suit's defamation claim.

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Law Firm Trying To 'Overthrow' Ill. City's Counsel, Suit Says

By Celeste Bott

A Chicago suburb has sued the law firm Odelson Murphey Frazier & McGrath in Illinois state court, asking a Cook County judge to block its involvement in a federal lawsuit brought by a former city employee accusing the mayor of extortion and retaliation and in a dispute involving the Teamsters at the Illinois Labor Relations Board.

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7th Circ. Reverses $10K Punitive Award Over Arbitrator's Error

By Katryna Perera

The Seventh Circuit on Thursday vacated and remanded a $10,000 arbitration award against USAA Savings Bank for closing a customer's credit card account without proper explanation, saying the arbitrator failed to comply with the terms of the arbitration agreement by ignoring a requirement to conduct a post-award review before finalizing damages.

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Emissions Permits May Not Override Pollution Exclusions

Two recent coverage rulings from the Illinois Supreme Court and the Third Circuit suggest a trend among appellate courts to deny coverage under pollution exclusions, even when the emissions happened pursuant to a government permit, say attorneys at Simpson Thacher.

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5 Tips For Navigating Your Firm's All-Attorney Summit

Law firm retreats should be approached strategically, as they present valuable opportunities to advance both the firm's objectives and attorneys' professional development through meaningful participation, building and strengthening internal relationships, and proactive follow-up, says James Argionis at Cozen O’Connor.

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DOJ Rebuked Over Lack Of Candor For 'Imperious Client'

By Jack Karp

A Florida federal judge has rebuked government attorneys for failing to be up-front about legal authority that contradicts their position in a habeas case, warning them not to let their "imperious client" get between them and their ethical obligations.

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The Hypnosis That Helped Send A Man To Death Row

By Marco Poggio

The capital murder conviction of Charles Don Flores, a man on Texas’ death row, hinged on a courtroom identification by a witness who had previously undergone hypnosis. His lawyers are now asking the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene, after Texas’ top court shot down his claims that the hypnosis session contaminated the witness’s memory and tainted her identification.

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Ore. Atty Sanctioned $10K For Brief With Fabricated Citations

By Hailey Konnath

An Oregon appellate court has ordered an attorney to pay $10,000 for filing an opening brief containing fabricated case citations, quotations that "do not exist anywhere in Oregon case law" and other inaccuracies, according to an opinion.

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Where Calif. State Courts Landed On Generative AI Use Rules

By Emily Sawicki

The majority of California's 58 superior courts — together making up the country's largest trial court system — have decided to greenlight the use of generative artificial intelligence in their work this year, a Law360 investigation found.

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Legal Sector Bracing For Impact Of Del. Corp. Law Changes

By Rose Krebs

Now that the Delaware Supreme Court has signed off on controversial corporate law amendments, the legal industry is anxiously awaiting the real-world impacts of those changes, panelists at Tulane University Law School's Corporate Law Institute said on Friday.

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Roundup

Balancing The Scales: $3M Jury Verdict, GEO Appeal Denial

By Orlando Lorenzo

A Philadelphia federal judge rejected bids to disturb a $3 million jury award and impose sanctions on plaintiff's counsel arising from proceedings he described as "near-daily Festivus celebrations, where everyone got to air their grievances 'for the sake of the record'" and a Detroit man saw his murder conviction vacated after 27 years due to the case's reliance on a coerced confession and a lack of physical evidence, among other access to justice stories you may have missed.

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Bondi Keeps Ousted Wisconsin US Atty With New Title

By Lauren Berg

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi swapped Brad D. Schimel's title from interim U.S. attorney to first assistant U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Wisconsin in order to keep him in charge of the office after his tenure expired earlier this week.

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Beasley Allen Can't Halt DQ Ruling In J&J Talc Litigation

By George Woolston

A New Jersey state appeals court has refused to pause its decision disqualifying the Beasley Allen Law Firm from representing plaintiffs in multicounty litigation over Johnson & Johnson's talc-based baby powder, according to a court order.

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Up Next At High Court: Late Ballots And 'Last-Mile' Drivers

By Katie Buehler

The U.S. Supreme Court will kick off its March oral arguments session by reviewing disputes over the validity of state laws allowing late-arriving mail-in ballots to be counted in federal elections and whether "last-mile" delivery drivers qualify for the transportation worker exemption to the Federal Arbitration Act. 

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Top SEC Enforcer Signals Continuity After Ryan Departure

By Sarah Jarvis

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's acting enforcement chief said Friday that the agency will continue to "focus on quality over quantity" when it comes to the cases it brings, projecting continuity with his predecessor's approach after her abrupt departure from the agency earlier this week.

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Roundup

UK Litigation Roundup: Here's What You Missed In London

By Laura Stewart Liberty

The past week in London has seen an ex-professional footballer revive a dispute with Charles Russell Speechlys, Virgin Media face a group data protection claim after hundreds of thousands of customers' personal details were exposed online for months, and Mishcon de Reya sued by a real estate private equity firm founded by a former Morgan Stanley executive.

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Roundup

GC Cheat Sheet: The Hottest Corporate News Of The Week

By Michele Gorman

Major shareholder groups sued the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, claiming the agency violated the Administrative Procedure Act. In the meantime, some attorneys think the sanctions that judges are issuing to lawyers over AI-generated errors won't be enough to stop the problem. These are some of the stories in corporate legal news you may have missed in the past week.

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Law360's Legal Lions Of The Week

By Kevin Penton

Baron & Budd PC, Walden Macht Haran & Williams LLP and Powers Pyles Sutter & Verville PC lead this week's edition of Law360 Legal Lions, after the Ninth Circuit revived a major hospital chain's False Claims Act suit accusing large pharmaceutical companies of massive overcharges in a prominent drug discount program.

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In Case You Missed It: Hottest Firms And Stories On Law360

For those who missed out, here's a look back at the law firms, stories and expert analyses that generated the most buzz on Law360 last week.

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